Meadowlakes commits $20K to city manager search
After two months of searching for a new city manager on its own, the Meadowlakes City Council unanimously approved $20,000 to hire a recruiting firm during its May 21 meeting.
City Manager Johnnie Thompson plans to retire on Sept. 1.
“Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t,” said Mayor Mark Bentley about the job search. “I don’t think it’s worked out. We need to get someone on board sooner rather than later because Johnnie’s time is limited.”
Meadowlakes relied on free advertising on the Texas Municipal League website to garner interest in the city’s top job. The posting led to about 25 applicants.
“Among those, there was either some problems on what they’ve posted on Facebook, their records, or they just didn’t seem to have the qualifications,” Bentley said.
The mayor pointed to one candidate in particular.
“There was one real nice (applicant), but he was probably like 24 years old,” he said. “He’s going to be a good city manager one day, but not now. We didn’t want to bring him up the learning curve.”
About six candidates were deemed acceptable by the city’s search committee, which includes Bentley, Thompson, Councilor Barbara Peskin, and residents Mike Shaw and Kyle Stripling.
“We’ve had someone making $15 an hour all the way up to people that operated storage buildings,” Thompson said during the meeting. “We really just haven’t had a real good pool.”
Only three of the top six candidates responded to an email sent by Thompson earlier in May to gauge interest. Two replied that they no longer wanted the job.
“The only one that did apply that was still interested was at the bottom of the list,” Thompson said. “He barely made the cut.”
The council is urgently trying to fill the city manager’s role ahead of budget season this summer.
“We need to do this pretty soon,” said Peskin about hiring a recruiting firm. “We’re running out of time.”